A Healthy Fruit Celebrates Its Holiday
Reader's Digest US|November 2018

A cranberry like me thinks of itself as the self-sufficient type.

Kate Lowenstein and Daniel Gritzer
A Healthy Fruit Celebrates Its Holiday

A cranberry like me thinks of itself as the self-sufficient type. Millennia ago, as one of a handful of fruits native to North America (along with blueberries and Concord grapes), I eked out an existence in the sandy, acidic, waterlogged soil of glacier-formed bogs and other inhospitable spots in the continent’s colder regions. In an environment that many plants would have found impossible, my shrubby vines flourished, my little green fruits turning white, then pink, then red as autumn deepened toward winter.

Native Americans picked my wild berries, eating them dried with deer meat, mashing them into antibacterial poultices for wound healing, and transforming the red skins into dye. When the Europeans arrived, my vitamin C helped them avoid scurvy.

Even after I became a cultivated crop (circa 1816), better-nourished modern humans benefited from the antioxidants in my skins and flesh, which offer anticancer, anti–heart disease, and antibacterial properties. I also help prevent urinary tract infections, thanks to my unusual abundance of chemicals called proanthocyanidins, which keep bacteria from sticking to the tract’s inner surface.

Despite these attributes, my fame could have remained limited. After all, my raw flesh is an acquired taste, to say the least—so tart and tannic that it takes more than a small amount of sugar to make me palatable. I might have been a mere novelty that shows up at the farmers market for a short season—the way, say, gooseberries or fiddlehead ferns do, stumping home cooks unfamiliar with how to incorporate them into a meal.

Bu hikaye Reader's Digest US dergisinin November 2018 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye Reader's Digest US dergisinin November 2018 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

READER'S DIGEST US DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
Cookies for Forgiveness
Reader's Digest US

Cookies for Forgiveness

My blowup was half-baked. The apology wasn't

time-read
4 dak  |
December 2024/January 2025
Puff the Magic Pastry
Reader's Digest US

Puff the Magic Pastry

It always rises to the occasion

time-read
2 dak  |
December 2024/January 2025
New Year's Traditions Around the World
Reader's Digest US

New Year's Traditions Around the World

1 MOST OF US spend the final seconds of each calendar year watching a nearly 12,000-pound geodesic sphere descend over Times Square in New York City.

time-read
4 dak  |
December 2024/January 2025
Mom's Wall-Sign Wisdom
Reader's Digest US

Mom's Wall-Sign Wisdom

She never met a plaque or bumper sticker she didn't quote

time-read
3 dak  |
December 2024/January 2025
Protect Your 'Holiday Heart'
Reader's Digest US

Protect Your 'Holiday Heart'

This joyful time of year can also be dangerously stressful

time-read
3 dak  |
December 2024/January 2025
Heroes of the Holidays
Reader's Digest US

Heroes of the Holidays

It's not just Santa Claus bringing the holiday magic this season. As you'll see, he's got elves all over.

time-read
10+ dak  |
December 2024/January 2025
The Man Who Looks After His Wife's Ex
Reader's Digest US

The Man Who Looks After His Wife's Ex

For him and his bride, \"in sickness and in health\" meant something really special

time-read
8 dak  |
December 2024/January 2025
How Risky Are Those Holiday Cocktails, Really?
Reader's Digest US

How Risky Are Those Holiday Cocktails, Really?

The latest recommendations about drinking and your health

time-read
7 dak  |
December 2024/January 2025
HOW ONE KENTUCKY TOWN SAVED ITSELF
Reader's Digest US

HOW ONE KENTUCKY TOWN SAVED ITSELF

Downtown Hazard had lost its small-town mojo to drugs. Former addicts are helping to bring it back.

time-read
8 dak  |
December 2024/January 2025
Dream It, Do It, Done!
Reader's Digest US

Dream It, Do It, Done!

Your bucket-list goals, accomplished

time-read
4 dak  |
December 2024/January 2025